This makes me really feel safe. I'm all set to live in Western PA for EVER!

Buying congress makes sense. If they're outspokenly against you, when you buy them, they stop doing that. It'll be fun to see if this congressman does a 180 once Google's money is up his sock hole, and starts spouting Google's corporate values as his new platform.

I bought a T61p Thinkpad in 2007, and it's still my everyday machine. I've upgraded the memory to 8GB, hard disk, replaced a keyboard, and the battery, all very economically when the prices of those components came down. I love this machine, especially its keyboard, and am loathe to give it up unless I can find another with the same layout. In particular the pgup/pgdn/home/end keys are layed out in a manner which makes them very useful and natural for navigating within a window. I wish laptop chassis were standardized enough that you could customize these sorts of components easily so you can get just exactly what you want. I'm thinking about finally upgrading sometime in the next year, but am in no hurry. I'm considering a Thinkpad T530 or a 15" MacBook Pro with Retina display. I looked at the Razer Blade Pro, but I didn't think I'd like the keyboard, and had concerns about durability (due to lack of data on that aspect and not having seen one in person to gauge how sturdy they are).

I don't know why everyone is so down on Ballmer in this story. I think he's perfect. For years, Nintendo have made a ton of money off of a great big monkey. Now, Microsoft are finally competing on equal terms.

When data collection occurs on the server side, and the network protocol is mostly happening in cleartext, what good is having a "secure" browser?

Yes... and, without the law, those with enough money still beat people with less, too. Basically, it's always an advantage to have more money. The problem isn't money, it's the willingness to be an asshole to get it, and using it to hurt people in order to preserve and increase your power.

The fifth amendment protects the individual. Any individual acting in rational self interest will not take any action that harms themself. Testifying against one's self harms one's self. The fifth amendment isn't there to protect the society, it's there to protect the individual. The state cannot be compelled to cause you to harm yourself. This is a good thing in every conceivable case.

Just because you're super smart and capable of meeting all your needs in the immediate locale, doesn't mean there's no reason to ever visit. Aliens might just want to hang out and talk. Or have exotic space sex. Or eat us. Or all three. Seriously, have a little imagination.

So, have a FB account, post totally boring shit on it.

Citation needed.

Those are space stations!

This is why you have to decelerate gradually.

I keep hearing advice like this, but how soon is it that asking for a warrant and citing constitutional rights will be deemed suspicious behavior, and qualify as probable cause? "Judge, when I asked the suspect to consent to search, he demanded to see a warrant. Well, right there, you know he's got something to hide, so that was suspicious enough that I felt that there was probable cause.." I mean, they don't even need to put you on trial anymore, right? If they decide you're guilty, you just get abducted and sent off to Guantanamo.

Since there *are* no such things as zombies, I have to wonder what all these preparations are for. Judging by the demographics, I'd say that "zombie apocalypse" is really just a fun proxy code word standing in for "racial holy war".

Ah, the chemistry metaphor. Thank you for making it all so clear for the rest of us, and for not being part of the precipitate!